Posts Tagged ‘BP’

On April 20, 2010, a well blowout a mile under the Deepwater Horizon exploration ship sent a surge of oil and gas up to the rig, setting it on fire and killing 11 crew members. The well leaked for 87 days, and 3.19 million barrels of crude oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico. BP just totaled up the amount of legal bills, damage settlements, restoration costs, and fines it has paid to hundreds of lawyers, 400 local governments, thousands of claimants and the federal government, and the tab comes to $61.6 billion.

On Thursday September 4, 2014 U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Barbier, Louisiana born and bred, found BP to be “grossly negligent” in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, attributing 67% of the blame to the company, 30% to contractor Transocean, and 3% to submarine cement subcontractor Halliburton. BP may be liable for as much as $18 billion in fines under the Clean Water Act. BP had tried to claim its two partners in the drilling venture were equally responsible, so the ruling essentially doubles that. BP says it will appeal.

With this fine on top of other Deepwater fines, costs, and damage expenses, BP’s total bill for the disaster could reach $50 billion.

While the media fleet sailed with the Titanic centennial story, this week marked the anniversary of another maritime disaster. The Deepwater oil spill happened two years ago, but you wouldn’t know it unless you live on the Gulf Coast. Most media coverage boosted the recovery of tourism and the fishing industry. Only the editors of the Tampa Bay Times have a weather eye on the future:

Contractor Halliburton knew the cement it used to seal the BP Deepwater oil rig was faulty but used it anyway, according to a report released by a federal commision. “Halliburton and BP both had results in March showing that a very similar foam slurry design to the one actually pumped at the Macondo well would be unstable, but neither acted upon that data,” according to investigators.

The recent CEO-juggling at PB may have distracted you from an alarming news item. Mike Williams, an electronics technician for Transocean, reported that the alarm for the Blowout Preventer valve (BOP) on the Deepwater Horizon drill rig was intentionally disabled to avoid waking the crew with false alarms.

The result: no alarm for the real emergency, which cost 11 lives. A similar alarm bypass at the Upper Big Branch Mine killed 29 miners in an explosion, notes Johnny Kilroy.

The new cap will have an improved, snug fit, and should capture more crude. It has been manufactured by Cameron, the company that also made the blowout prevention valves (BOPs) on the Deepwater Horizon. The cause of the failure of the Deepwater’s BOPs has yet to be determined.

Anadarko CEO Jim Hackett issued a statement last month blaming the oil spill on “BP’s reckless decisions and actions,” so expect some resistence from the junior partner. Mitsui merely says it has until July 12th to reply. Corporate and maritime lawyers everywhere are on alert.